My students need a library that is easy for them to use. My goal is to organize the library and use a free website as a tool to make it function like a conventional one.
Have you ever been overwhelmed walking into a store by the sheer volume of items available to be purchased? My students are overwhelmed by the vast quantity of books I have in my classroom library. I currently have about 3000 titles (including magazines)- but they aren't organized efficiently at all!
My classroom is a good representation of the various ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds that the students come from.
The students attend an A-Rated public school in central Florida, but we should also qualify as a Title I school. However, because there are other schools with needs more severe than ours, we lost our Title I funding this year (but not the status figure). Bottom line, many students come from homes that are not financially able to provide them with the resources needed to catch up, let alone get ahead in school. That being said, my students come to class everyday excited about the learning opportunities they have and are eager to embrace what they need to learn head on. They may get frustrated or disappointed that concepts are hard for them to learn because they don't have the background knowledge to use as a foundation to build new learning on, but they are enthusiastic about exploring the world around them.
My Project
Color is a universally-appealing attribute of a product. As early as 6-months old, babies are attracted to colorful objects. I would expect the same to be said of the 8-year-olds in my class, that they, too, find color appealing. Color-coordinating my classroom library by both genre (type of literature) and Lexile level (a number assigned according to complexity of comprehension)- will make my classroom library much easier to use. I have already used a free online website to catalog my books and magazines so that the students can "check" out by themselves. The color-coordination and organization system will help my classroom "librarian" keep the library neat and orderly. Moreover, the children will be able to locate the exact book they want based on genre, interest, or Lexile level easily. The students will learn to become independent and self-sufficient, as well as responsible for their own literature choices. These are all ways to help them become passionate lifelong readers.
Any parent or educator can tell you that one of the things children love best is to do things by themselves.
By organizing my classroom library with color-coordinated storage bins for each type of book (standard, chapter, and picture-book size)- the students can become independent and efficient classroom library users. With the ability to select books by interest, genre, and Lexile level- the students will become independent as they choose books they want to read and are ABLE to read by themselves.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Albert and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
